Poconos pastor gets life in wife's death

Arthur Schirmer killed his wife in 2008 and staged car crash. He faces trial in 1999 killing of his first wife.

March 18, 2013|By David Falchek, Of the Scranton Times Tribune

After testimony from relatives of Betty Jean Schirmer, the man who murdered her in 2008 was sentenced Monday in Monroe County Court to life in prison without parole.

Now former minister Arthur B. Schirmer faces trial later this year in Lebanon County on charges he killed his first wife in 1999.

Schirmer was found guilty in January of first-degree murder following an 11-day Monroe County trial at which 60 witnesses testified. He was also found guilty of tampering with evidence, for which the judge imposed an additional several months on top of the life sentence.

Schirmer, 64, former pastor at Reeders United Methodist Church in Jackson Township,, bludgeoned his 56-year-old wife to death. Then he staged a car crash on Route 715 in Jackson to make it appear she sustained the fatal head injury in a car accident.

While Schirmer faced a mandatory life sentence, the court appearance in Stroudsburg was important, allowing victim impact statements to be read into the record. Several relatives of Betty Jean Schirmer testified, including her mother, Jean, and son, Nate Novack.

"This was a formality, but an important proceeding," said First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso. "It gives victims the ability to address him directly and triggers certain appellate rights. They laid into him pretty good."

They were joined by siblings of Joseph Musante, whose suicide in Schirmer's office called attention to the deaths of his wives.

Some spoke on behalf of the defendant, including Cindy Moyer, once Musante's wife and now engaged to Schirmer. Amy Wolfgang, Schirmer's daughter from his first marriage, also spoke on his behalf.

Schirmer's attorney, Brandon R. Reish, said the sentence was mandatory for the conviction and not a surprise. He said his client maintains his innocence and will appeal.

Schirmer's first wife, Jewel Schirmer, ostensibly died in a fall down stairs in the parsonage at Bethany United Methodist Church in Lebanon County, where Schirmer was pastor until shortly after her death in April 1999.

Lebanon County authorities had thought a heart attack caused Jewel Schirmer to fall down the stairs. They reclassified her death a homicide in January 2012. That trial is scheduled to begin in November.